Thursday 13 June 2013 Pupils from four Leeds schools teamed up to create some cracking designs when they took on the Smallpeice Trust vehicle safety challenge, using eggs as their crash test dummies. The pupils were taking part in a scheme to promote further study and careers in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), organised by national educational charity the Smallpeice Trust. At the year 8 STEM day, held at The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL), 90 pupils were given a brief, a budget and the materials to design and build a vehicle that could hold two passengers and survive a high speed front impact test. Members of each team assumed individual management roles including finance, resources, marketing and product design. The moment of truth came as Tolulope Olajide, Education Officer with the Smallpeice Trust, took each vehicle with two eggs stowed on board, and launched it down a steep ramp to test whether the eggs remained intact, cracked or got scrambled. Tolulope told the students: “Although you all had the same brief your designs were very different. The task has been a great success – when you walked in it looked impossible but you got stuck in and worked together to build something that worked well.” John Hern, science teacher at David Young Community Academy, said: “The pupils have engaged well with their peers from other schools, working collaboratively to design and construct a model to explore the crash safety of cars. An activity like this that relates to the real world gives pupils an insight into the work and process of being an engineer, and lets them use their knowledge and creativity to come up with their own design within the brief.” Year 8 pupils from Benton Park School in Rawdon, Lawnswood School, David Young Community Academy and GSAL took part in the day. General News
